Page 105 of The SnowFang Storm

“I was at the Greater Meeting this summer, and I know Alpha Alan met with the Elder Council behind closed doors. Everyone’s murmuring it’s about elevation.”

Spring raised her brows. “That brought you out here?”

“No, not exactly, but I want to know if that’s what he asked about.”

She sighed at me. “You came all the way out here and I came all the way out here twenty miles overland in winter for you to ask me that?”

But a pack twenty years dead was important? I ignored that rabbit hole and stayed on track, pulse thudding in my neck. “No, I think what he was really talking about was who owns the land FrostFur holds as territory.”

She gave me a sideways look. “Why are you asking about that? You should know.”

“I should know?” I yelped, almost spilling my coffee.

“You’re your Dad’s shadow.” She frowned.

Oh, that. I breathed a sigh of relief and sagged in my chair. “He never told me Council business, especially not that kind of Council business. I figured you and I could talk since we’re female and family. Just cut through the usual male political bluster.”

She snorted inelegantly. “Oh, you mean the shit nobody wants to talk about? Like how the Elder Council must be boiling crabs the way they’re leaning on the lid?”

I resisted the urge to hide behind a sip of my drink. I heard myself chuckle. “Yeah, exactly. Whisper in my ear, Spring. No prestige between us, no politics, tell me what’s really going on because the rumors are… crabs. Hell, the rumors are blue crabs, and they get bigger all the time.”

A voice in the back of my mind told me to get out, to run, the prey was too dangerous. I bit down and dug in. I was so close. Just a few more prods. My harrier-honed instincts howled I needed to go. That this had gotten too dangerous.

No. We are too close and I’m not losing my nerve now!

Spring still hesitated. She refreshed her coffee, eyeing me, and she studied me up and down. Her gaze rested on my wedding rings. I’d thought about removing them, but decided that would be a blatant lie. So far I’d tip-toed up to the line but hadn’t crossed it.

“You got married,” she said, an edge to her voice I didn’t like. She was counting up all my sins: MoonDark, fake nails, wedding rings, dyed hair.

I shrugged. “My mate wanted to get married.”

She reached out and took my hand and studied the rings. “Beautiful. Aquamarines?”

“Blue diamonds.”

“They’re gorgeous. They look like water.” She shifted my hand so the stones would dance in the light. “Little pieces of water. Must have cost a fortune.”

They had, actually.

“Last I heard you had come home from the Greater Meeting single,” Spring said meaningfully.

So Spring hadn’t any information more current than August. Relief bloomed in my chest despite the screaming warning in my head I needed to get out from under the prey. “Dad had a few last tricks up his sleeve. Now I’m here, if you get my meaning.”

“So he shipped you off right away?” Spring asked grimly.

“Dad doesn’t mess around when the fruit’s past it shelf life,” I said with a shrug. “Packed me right off on the next plane. Literally.”

Spring cast a glance at the ceiling. “Sounds just like Rodero, the jerk. Ah, he was a good mate to your mother, though. More or less, when he wasn’t being Sir Lord Alpha on High. And a good father to you.”

Until he hadn’t been, of course.

“So you’ve been cut off from spying over Daddy’s shoulder and your new pack needs you to confirm some rumors, eh? Sneaky. Very sneaky.” She wagged a playful finger at me.

She had no idea how sneaky. I faked a smile. “I think we’ve got some shared concerns. I didn’t tell them where exactly I was coming or who I was going to talk to.”

Spring chuckled. “Sometimes best to keep males out from underfoot. Their balls get in the way.”

“Indeed.” Where had I acquired this awful skill? Watching my family mediate disputes and tease out truths? Lure wolves into revealing more than they cared to? Spring would find out quick what I’d done, and she’d despise me.

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